1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a pouch especially adapted for storing and displaying small articles such as orthodontic appliances. The invention also concerns a packaged article that includes an orthodontic archwire received in a pouch that is especially convenient to open.
2. Description of the Related Art
Orthodontic treatment often involves the use of a variety of small articles commonly called appliances. For example, one type of orthodontic treatment may include the use of small, slotted appliances known as brackets that are fixed to teeth of the patient's upper and lower dental arch. Another appliance known as an archwire is then placed in the slots of each bracket, and serves as a track to guide movement of the teeth to orthodontically correct positions. In addition, appliances known as buccal tubes are often fixed to the molar teeth and serve as an anchor for ends of the archwire.
A wide selection of different appliances are available to the orthodontist and vary in size, shape and material of construction. For example, brackets may be made of stainless steel, plastic or ceramic and may have a slot with a particular configuration that is especially adapted for use with an archwire having a matching cross-sectional configuration. Moreover, different brackets are often selected for use with different teeth. For example, the slot of each bracket may be oriented in a particular direction to facilitate moving the associated tooth to an orthodontically correct position. The overall shape of the bracket may have a particular configuration to avoid impinging other brackets or teeth, and the width of the bracket may be narrower or wider in accordance with the width of the underlying tooth.
A variety of different archwires are also available and a number of different archwires are typically retained on hand by the orthodontist for use when needed. Archwires are available in varying overall sizes to match the size of the patient's upper or lower dental arch. In addition, archwires may have a round, square or rectangular cross-sectional configuration and may be of different sizes in accordance with the orthodontist's preferred treatment technique.
Many other small appliances are also often retained on hand by the orthodontist for use when desired. Examples of such other appliances include buccal tubes, lingual sheaths, buttons, auxiliary archwires, springs, ligatures and force modules. Maintaining an inventory represents a certain expense by necessity, but is advantageous in that a particular appliance may be readily selected and used by the orthodontist for a particular treatment when needed without waiting for the appliance to be shipped to the orthodontist by the manufacturer.
A number of different packages have been used in the past to store, display and dispense orthodontic appliances. Orthodontic appliances are relatively small and often a number of identical appliances are packaged in a single container. Unfortunately, such packaging may provide an opportunity for appliances in the container to be contaminated whenever the container is opened to remove a single appliance.
As a consequence, there has been increased interest in recent years in unit-of-use packaging, wherein a single appliance is packaged in its own container. In some instances, the appliance and the interior of the container have been sterilized by the manufacturer. Other containers are not sterilized by the manufacturer, but are adapted to be placed in an autoclave by the orthodontist to sterilize the container and its contents.
Many orthodontic appliances have been packaged in pouches. Some pouches are reduced-size versions of well-known plastic sandwich bags that have a zipper-type closure on one end. Such pouches sometimes have a printed label adhered by a pressure sensitive adhesive to its outside surface. Moreover, some pouches have a printed insert that is placed inside the pouch next to the appliance.
Other orthodontic pouches are made by cutting two panels or sheets of equal size, and then adhering or otherwise joining the sheets together along their periphery to enclose an appliance between the sheets. One sheet is made of flexible clear plastic material to facilitate viewing of the packaged appliance. The other sheet is often made of flexible paper or other material having a printable surface, so that the manufacturer's name, a description of the packaged appliance and other information such as instructions or lot numbers may be provided directly on the pouch.
While the various pouches and other packages used to contain orthodontic appliances and other devices in the past have been satisfactory in some respects, there are some problems with such packages and pouches that remain to be overcome. For one thing, smaller pouches often do not provide a sufficient space for printing a large quantity of text, such as when the package or pouch is distributed in several countries and the text needs to be printed in several languages. In addition, some packages and pouches are somewhat difficult and cumbersome to open.
There is a need in the art for an improved pouch that overcomes the problems noted above.